Activities in Medellín
Activities: the best places in and around Medellín, verified one by one.
- 19 places
- 10 zones
- average
- Gaia ParapenteBelloGAIA is one of the free-flight operators working from the San Félix ridge, the launch site Bello shares with the rest of the metropolitan area.
- Top ratedTour Comuna 13Veinte de Julio, San JavierThe graffitour walks the Comuna 13 hillside reading its walls: who painted each piece, what it says and what happened at that exact spot. It is led by people who have been part of the neighbourhood's graffiti culture for years, not guides brought in from outside, and that is the difference between the tour and any walk among murals.
- Top ratedGlamping Ancestros EcoparqueNorte del ValleAncestros combines accommodation and activities in the El Palmar hamlet, in the hills of Girardota, and works both ways: you can sleep there or go up just for the day.
- Top ratedPueblo Tutucán & Parque Comfama RionegroRionegroThe Comfama Rionegro Recreation Park is home to 'Tutucán', a living, monumental re-creation of an Antioquian town of the colonisation at the start of the 20th century. In its rammed-earth and clay-tile streets, actors play the village priest, the gossip, the muleteer, the village fool and the mayor, offering street-theatre sketches, traditional fondas, rides, a lake and pools.
- Top ratedMalecón de Guatapé y Deportes NáuticosGuatapeThe Malecón San Juan del Puerto runs along the Guatapé reservoir on a landscaped pedestrian walk with a floating dock. It is the starting point for speedboats, jet skis, kayaks, flyboard and two-storey tourist boats that tour the islands of the lake, visiting the ruins of Hacienda La Manuela, hidden coves and glampings over the water.
- Comfama Parque CopacabanaNorte del ValleComfama's emblematic recreation park, known as 'Las Ballenitas', with swimming pools, water slides, a lake with boats and large green areas; a family tradition in the north of the Aburrá Valley.
- Parque Acuático KanaloaSanta Fe De AntioquiaThe largest and most modern warm-climate recreation complex and water park in western Antioquia. Kanaloa offers giant wave pools, lazy rivers for floating on inner tubes, extreme free-fall and multi-lane slides, pirate ships with interactive water buckets for children, sunbathing areas and country restaurants under palm trees.
- Plaza Minorista José María VillaCalle Nueva / San BenitoFounded in 1984, the Plaza Minorista is the heart of popular supply in Medellín and one of the most authentic culinary epicentres in Colombia. It has more than 3,000 stalls spread over sections of exotic fruit (lulo, passion fruit, soursop, chontaduro, borojó, mangosteen), fresh vegetables, fishmongers, medicinal plants, freshly grilled corn arepas and popular fondas serving wood-fired sancochos and mondongos.
- Villas de ComfenalcoBelloResidential area of Bello with green spaces and neighbourhood spots valued for walking, picnics and spending time together.
- Club El ZarzalNorte del ValleCountry club for spending the day, with a swimming pool, a farm with animals and a restaurant, in the rural area of the El Zarzal hamlet.
- Aeroclub San Felix ParapenteBelloThe Aeroclub at San Félix operates from the ridge above Bello, one of the most reliable free-flight sites in Colombia thanks to its combination of altitude and thermals.
- Bowland Santa FeEl PobladoBowland is the Santafé shopping centre's bowling alley, and works more as a night out than as a bowling hall: coloured lighting, loud music and a bar used as much as the lanes.
- Comfama Bello PerezBelloThe Comfama site in the Pérez neighbourhood is Bello's reference recreation facility, and works like a neighbourhood club at scale.
- Enigma Escape Room MedellínLaurelesEnigma is an escape room house in Laureles with seven rooms running, and its catalogue covers quite different registers: Piratas and El cáliz del hechicero lean adventure, Viaje a la Infancia leans nostalgia, and Chernobyl a Ciegas and Orfanato are the frightening ones, both recommended for sixteen and over.
- Flying Squirrel Sports Los Molinos MedellinBelénFlying Squirrel occupies 3,000 square metres on the top floor of the Los Molinos shopping centre, and is one of the largest trampoline parks in Medellín.
- Happy City, Centro Comercial El TesoroEl PobladoEl Tesoro Encantado is the amusement park Happy City runs inside the El Tesoro shopping park, and it is built for children rather than teenagers.
- Parapente Dejavu Medellin San FelixBelloThis is one of the operators working the San Félix launch site above Bello, and its offer is organised by flight length: the short route is about a quarter of an hour, the middle one twenty minutes, and the long one reaches half an hour in the air.
- Parque Comfama La EstrellaNorte del ValleThe Comfama park in La Estrella is the large recreation facility of the southern valley, on Calle 87 Sur.
- Parque de las AguasNorte del ValleParque de las Aguas is the metropolitan area's water park, in the Filoverde hamlet of Barbosa, beside kilometre 23 of the Autopista Norte. It covers up to seventeen hectares.
Before you go
This category is for plans where you do something rather than sit and watch: paragliding, cracking an escape room, bowling, walking Comuna 13 with a guide or spending the day at a park with a pool. They take a little more planning than going out to eat, because they usually depend on the weather, on availability or on the operator running that day.
Adventure activities are the ones most worth booking ahead. Paragliding is based in San Félix, high above Bello, and only takes off when wind and cloud allow it; since afternoon rain is common in Medellín, book with some slack and keep a plan B. The parks run by the family-welfare funds, such as Comfama's in Bello and Copacabana, work well for a full family day, but they fill up on weekends and public holidays.
For city tours such as the Comuna 13 tour, San Javier Metro station is the easiest way in. Almost everything here sits in the $$ range on our scale; before paying, ask what the price covers (transport, gear, insurance, photos). If you are heading up the mountain, wear closed shoes and bring a light jacket.
